Hyderabad: Gearing up for early Lok Sabha elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) today (Jan 10, 2004) provided a flavour of the campaign trend ahead by raking up foreign origin of Congress president Sonia Gandhi and asserted that it would be one of the key poll issues of National Democratic Alliance (NDA).

"The nationality and ability of Sonia Gandhi will certainly be questioned in the coming polls... Congress leaders may be hypothecated to Nehru-Gandhi family, the country has long forgotten them," BJP general secretary Pramod Mahajan told a meet the press programme of Andhra Pradesh Union of Working Journalists in Hyderabad.

Stating that nowhere in the world was any foreigner allowed to occupy the highest position, he said, "Indians surely do not want to create such a record."

"We have no objection to her becoming Congress president or leader of the Opposition. In fact, we are comfortable with her position as Opposition leader as she has nothing much to talk and no interventions to make. It is India's good fortune to have an able and strong Prime Minister like Atal Bihari Vajpayee and an Opposition leader like her," Mahajan said.

In an oblique reference to Congress moving closer to Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), he said, "The widow of Rajiv Gandhi had earlier accused the same party of having a role in the assassination of Rajiv."

Taking a dig at the Congress leadership, the BJP leader said, "Some Congress leaders do not seem to be satisfied with the abilities of mother (Sonia) and want daughter (Priyanka) to take over."